Movie written by a teen picked for Christian film festival

When she was 7 years old, Aerin White struggled with reading and writing. Her parents, Gary and Shannon White, homeschool their seven children and decided to give Aerin a break from reading lessons. It was a tough decision, but proved to be the best for his daughter, Gary said.

When she was 7 years old, Aerin White struggled with reading and writing.

Her parents, Gary and Shannon White, homeschool their seven children and decided to give Aerin a break from reading lessons. It was a tough decision, but proved to be the best for his daughter, Gary said.

“She was not ready,” he said. “Now, she reads and writes tremendously well.”

She writes so well that at age 14, she wrote a full-length movie script, and the movie, “After the Knight,” has been selected to appear at the 2013 Churches Making Movies Christian Film Festival in Rahway, N.J.

Inspiration from C.S. Lewis

Aerin , who is now 16, had never thought about making movies until she watched “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.” Intrigued by the movie based on the C.S. Lewis book, she watched movies with more interest and paid attention to “behind the scenes” segments.

Two years ago when her 14-year-old sister, Joelle, and some friends at church started talking about making a movie, Aerin decided to enlist the help of her parents. Her father, an art teacher for 22 years, likes movies and would like to see more wholesome, good-quality films produced.

“We had a bunch of kids who wanted to make a movie,” she said. “I asked my dad what I could do with a bunch of kids and he suggested a treasure hunt.”

Aerin needed an elective for school. She chose to do cinematography and began studying. To get an idea of what a movie script was supposed to look like, Gary found a copy of George Lucas’ 1977 “Star Wars” script on the internet.

Short film becomes full-length feature

Her father thought she would write a 10-minute film, but Aerin wrote a full-length script for what would be an almost two-hour movie. She wrote the story with certain characters and scenes in mind, and they started filming in the summer of 2011.

“I love writing very much,” she said. “Writing the script was my favorite part of making the movie.”

The challenge for the low-budget filmmakers was how to make the words come to life with what they had available. They had a high-end camera, but needed a new computer and software to tackle editing the movie. Originally, the Whites had budgeted $1,000 to make the film, but ended up spending $3,500.

The theme of the movie is trusting God, Aerin said, which is also what she learned to do while making the film.

“Over and over again we came to this point where we couldn’t do something,” Aerin said. “I said, ‘God, this is your movie and you are going to have to help us.’ We would pray about it, and he would provide the person, or the place or if he didn’t, we would say we don’t need that.”

Page 2 of 2 - Overcoming challenges with limited resources

For one scene, they needed a tunnel and a cellar. They improvised by going under a porch for the tunnel and shooting in the corner of a loading dock to look like a cellar. Their ingenuity worked, because when people see the movie, they think the tunnel leads to the cellar and want to know where they found a place like that.

Their biggest hurdle came during editing. After 18 months of working on the project, Gary had edited 200 hours of film. A computer update wiped out all the work he had done. The family spent a day feeling sad over the loss.

“I think God upheld me through that time,” Aerin said. “I felt like he was going to pull us through.”

The next day, Gary remembered that he had saved an earlier version of the program on the computer. He spent 16 hours converting the files to the updated software and recovered everything they had done.

Sharing the movie with others

When the movie was complete, they were already over budget and lacked money to make copies of the film to distribute. They shared the need with their church, Heritage Fellowship in Boiling Springs, where Gary is pastor. A friend asked them to find out how much it would cost to make 1,000 copies. When they did, he agreed to pay the bill.

“That was a huge blessing,” Aerin said. “I’m hoping that the movie will draw people closer to God.”

She and Joelle haven’t decided if there are more movies in their future.

“I would like to make more movies, I’m praying about it right now,” Aerin said. “I would love to write a book. I’m still praying, and we will see where God leads me.”

Joelle said she would also like to make another movie after finishing high school and college.

“It’s up to God to lead me what to do,” she said.

About the movie

Foreclosure is inevitable for the Decker family. As they prepare to sell their farm, Kirk Decker stumbles on an old family treasure hunt. He and his gang of friends set off on the treasure hunt, hoping that the treasure will be enough to save the farm.

How to get a copy

Copies of “After the Knight” can be ordered from the website, aftertheknight.com, for $14.98. The cost includes tax and shipping. People who live in Cleveland County can arrange to pick up a copy of the movie for $10 from Gary White by calling 828-657-5337, or emailing aftertheknightmovie@gmail.com.